MOUNIRA BANASR, PH.D.
Dr. Mounira Banasr is an Independent Scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH, and leads the preclinical unit of the Neurobiology of Depression and Aging Program. She is also an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Banasr received her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Sciences of Luminy, France, in 2004. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University in one of the top psychiatry departments in the world, in the laboratory of Dr. Ronald Duman, where she became a Junior Scientist in 2008.
Our Research Focus
Our lab employs translational approaches that consist in investigating the neurobiology of chronic stress in mice to identify the biological mechanisms underlying stress-related illnesses including mood and anxiety disorders. Our research combines behavior, molecular and imaging approaches to study the consequences of chronic stress. Relevance of our findings is validated, when possible, in human cohorts. The ultimate goal of our work is to identify new targets for antidepressant development.
Meet the team
Team Publication List
Banasr, M., McCarson, K. E., Christian, D. T., Duric, V. (2026). Editorial: Brain-Body Interactions Underlying Comorbid Depression and Other Mood Disorders. Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Prevot, T. D., Knoch, J. K., Chatterjee, D., Codeluppi-Arrowsmith, S., Misquitta, K. A., Fee, C. J. E., Newton, D., Oh, H., Sibille, E., Banasr, M. (2026). Dynamic Behavioral and Molecular Changes Induced by Chronic Restraint Stress Exposure in Mice. International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
Rezaei, S., Banasr, M., Prevot, T. D., Bansal, Y., Vieira, E., Sibille, E. (2025). Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Prevents LPS-Induced Dysregulation of GABAergic Interneuron Markers in Mouse Hippocampus. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.
Bansal, Y., Codeluppi, S. A., Banasr, M. (2024). Astroglial Dysfunctions in Mood Disorders and Rodent Stress Models: Consequences on Behavior and Potential as Treatment Target. International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
Bansal, Y., Fee, C., Misquitta, K. A., Codeluppi, S. A., Sibille, E., Berman, R. M., Coric, V., Sanacora, G., Banasr, M. (2023). Prophylactic Efficacy of Riluzole Against Anxiety- and Depressive-Like Behaviors in Two Rodent Stress Models. Complex Psychiatry.
Clifford, K. P., Miles, A. E., Prevot, T. D., Misquitta, K. A., Ellegood, J., Lerch, J. P., Sibille, E., Nikolova, Y. S., Banasr, M. (2023). Brain Structure and Working Memory Adaptations Associated with Maturation and Aging in Mice. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
Codeluppi, S. A., Xu, M., Bansal, Y., Lepack, A. E., Duric, V., Chow, M., Muir, J., Bagot, R. C., Licznerski, P., Wilber, S. L., Sanacora, G., Sibille, E., Duman, R. S., Pittenger, C., Banasr, M. (2023). Prefrontal Cortex Astroglia Modulate Anhedonia-Like Behavior. Molecular Psychiatry.
Newton, D. F., Oh, H., Shukla, R., Misquitta, K., Fee, C., Banasr, M., Sibille, E. (2022). Chronic Stress Induces Coordinated Cortical Microcircuit Cell-Type Transcriptomic Changes Consistent With Altered Information Processing. Biological Psychiatry.
Codeluppi, S. A., Chatterjee, D., Prevot, T. D., Bansal, Y., Misquitta, K. A., Sibille, E., Banasr, M. (2021). Chronic Stress Alters Astrocyte Morphology in Mouse Prefrontal Cortex. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Banasr, M., Sanacora, G., Esterlis, I (2021). Macro- and Microscale Stress-Associated Alterations in Brain Structure: Translational Link with Depression. Biological Psychiatry.
Misquitta, K. A., Codeluppi, S. A., Knoch, J. K., Bansal, Y., Tomoda, T., Ellegood, J., Lerch, J. P., Sibille, E., Nikolova, Y. S., Banasr, M. (2021). Behavioral and Neurostructural Changes Associated with Chronic Amygdala Hyperactivation. bioRxiv.
Misquitta, K.A., Miles, A., Prevot, T.D, Knoch J.K., Fee, C., Newton, D.F., Ellegood, J, Lerch, J.P, Sibille, E, Nikolova, Y.S. Banasr, M. (2021). Reduced anterior cingulate cortex volume induced by chronic stress correlates with increased behavioral emotionality and decreased synaptic puncta density. Neuropharmacology (accepted).
Fee, C., Prevot, T.D., Misquitta, K.A., Knutson, D., Li, G., Cook, J., Banasr, M., Sibille, E. (2021). Behavioral Deficits Induced by Somatostatin-Positive GABA Neuron Silencing Are Rescued by Alpha 5 GABA-A Receptor Potentiation. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol.
Fee, C., Prevot, T., Misquitta, K., Banasr, M., Sibille, E., 2020. Chronic Stress-induced Behaviors Correlate with Exacerbated Acute Stress-induced Cingulate Cortex and Ventral Hippocampus Activation. Neuroscience 440, 113-129.
Prevot, T. D., Misquitta, K. A., Fee, C., Newton, D. F., Chatterjee, D., Nikolova, Y. S., … & Banasr, M. (2019). Residual avoidance: A new, consistent and repeatable readout of chronic stress-induced conflict anxiety reversible by antidepressant treatment. Neuropharmacology, 153, 98-110.
Nikolova, Y. S., Misquitta, K. A., Rocco, B. R., Prevot, T. D., Knodt, A. R., Ellegood, J., … & Banasr, M. (2018). Shifting priorities: highly conserved behavioral and brain network adaptations to chronic stress across species. Translational psychiatry, 8(1), 1-13.
Chowdhury, G. M., Zhang, J., Thomas, M., Banasr, M., Ma, X., Pittman, B., … & Behar, K. L. (2017). Transiently increased glutamate cycling in rat PFC is associated with rapid onset of antidepressant-like effects. Molecular psychiatry, 22(1), 120-126.
Sanacora, G., & Banasr, M. (2013). From pathophysiology to novel antidepressant drugs: glial contributions to the pathology and treatment of mood disorders. Biological psychiatry, 73(12), 1172-1179.
Banasr, M., Chowdhury, G. M. I., Terwilliger, R., Newton, S. S., Duman, R. S., Behar, K. L., & Sanacora, G. (2010). Glial pathology in an animal model of depression: reversal of stress-induced cellular, metabolic and behavioral deficits by the glutamate-modulating drug riluzole. Molecular psychiatry, 15(5), 501-511.
And more on Google Scholar!
